Gloucester City are still in "Intensive care", says boss Tim Harris

GLOUCESTER City are still in “intensive care” as they battle for Skrill North survival, according to boss Tim Harris.

Tuesday night’s 2-0 win over relegation rivals Histon has not taken the Tigers off the critical list as they battle to avoid relegation back to the Southern League.

Fallen giants Stockport County and their large travelling horde of fans will descend on Whaddon Road tomorrow with City looking for another shot in the arm to their survival hopes.

Keen to build on a plethora of positives from Tuesday night’s win, Harris has been around football for long enough to know one win has not changed his side’s prognosis.

“It was vitally important that we got the result on Tuesday and the performance was decent, but we have to go again on Saturday and repeat that,” Harris said.

“We are looking at a much sterner test than Tuesday night and the boys will have to raise their game again.

“Stockport have some very good players and we know they will have good support, but that’s a challenge for us to overcome.

“It’s 11 against 11 and we have to match them for commitment, and I will be pressing the point to the lads that we have got to keep that momentum up if we can.

“There are some smiles on faces after Tuesday but we know that one win hasn’t changed our outlook.

“We are in a critical situation, we are still in intensive care and we have a big challenge to overcome against Stockport.

“They have some good players and a good travelling support so we know we have to be on it.”

Harris will make one forced change to his side for the visit of the Hatters with new signing Billy Jones set to start in place of centre half Jack Harris, who sits out the first game of a three-match ban.

But after being encouraged by the performance against Histon, the Tigers boss will keep faith with the rest of the squad, so long as they keep performing.

“Billy comes in for Jack – he played at centre-half when he was with us at Newport and did it with aplomb,” Harris (inset) said.

“There is no substitute for experience and Billy has lots of that. We will need that, not only on Saturday but for the rest of the season as well.

“I have said from day one that I don’t want to make wholesale changes and as long as people are performing I won’t have to do that.”

Stockport head to Whaddon Road on the back of a run of four games without a Skrill North victory.

In League One as recently as 2009, the Edgeley Park club have been relegated four times in the last five seasons as financial and ownership issues have all but killed the club. They currently sit in a mid-table position in Skrill North, but still attract crowds in excess of 2,500 to home games.